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Lotus in the Peak |
| 28th - 30th June 2024 |
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Showing results for tags 'Practice'.
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Lotus GP had a complicated wet GP3 practice this morning in Silverstone : Aaro Vainio had a gear change problem due to an electronic issue. The team had to change the steering column before the finn can join the track to finaly ending P5. In the meantime Daniel Abt had turbo issues which prevented him to have a normal run. He finished P13. Conor Daly was the only one not to have any problem and finished in P6. The team is now working to prepare tomorrow’s qualifying at best. -
Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean took to the track today for the first practice sessions at the Valencia Street Circuit ahead of Sunday’s European Grand Prix. The day’s programme began with windy and cloudy conditions in the morning which improved in the afternoon. Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical programme notes: Today we evaluated a new front wing on Romain’s car and an updated floor, new rear suspension configuration and revised steering set-up with Kimi. Both cars ran Pirelli’s medium compound tyres in the morning and the medium and soft compound in the afternoon. What we learned today: Our base setup appears to work strongly in Valencia. Long-run, heavy-fuel pace in particular was good. Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05 Free practice 1: P10, 1:41.620, 22 laps Free practice 2: P11, 1:39.945, 34 laps Kimi: “The car feels okay and there were no issues. The wind was a bit of a factor in the morning but it was better in the afternoon. I was stuck in traffic for quite a bit of my long run in the second session, so I wasn’t able to go as fast as the car was capable of, but we don’t have any issues on that front. The E20’s strong point always seems to be its race pace but of course we are looking to make it quicker in qualifying. Let’s see how it is tomorrow morning and we’ll do whatever’s necessary. We’ll make a few changes to the car for sure, but I think we’re pretty okay.” Romain Grosjean, E20-04 Free practice 1: P11, 1:41.784, 15 laps Free practice 2: P8, 1:39.868, 33 laps Romain: “Today was not as hot as we expected, certainly after the weather we saw here yesterday, but the long run pace was there and the car felt good. We still have a few things to try with the setup, so there should be some more pace to come. Qualifying will be the big moment for us as we have seen that we need to find a little bit of improvement there. It’s not the end of the world, as we have seen that we can make good gains on Sunday with our race pace. The trick will be to find more speed in qualifying without disturbing this.” Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “It’s been a straight-forward and issue-free Friday for us. We conducted aero evaluation of a new front wing and new floor and we will be considering the data this evening. In the afternoon we concentrated on race pace and tyre management so our finishing positions, as usual, don’t necessarily represent where we expect to be after qualifying tomorrow. Overall, we’re very happy with the way the E20 is performing here. There is some scope for improvement to get both Kimi and Romain 100% happy with their cars, which we will work on tomorrow morning. In terms of long run pace we think we are looking competitive.” -
Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean took to the track for the first practice sessions on the streets of Monaco in mixed conditions today. A dry and warm morning session was followed by a mixed dry and wet afternoon session. Both drivers used new helmet designs today – images can be downloaded below. Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical programme notes In FP1 we conducted evaluations of our Monaco setup and gained initial data of Pirelli’s soft compound. Kimi completed just his initial installation lap in FP1 as he found the Monaco steering setup not to be to his liking. FP2 saw lower fuel running than usual, focusing on qualifying specification performance of the soft and super soft compound tyres when the track was sufficiently dry. We also ran with the intermediate tyres on both cars. What we learned today: Our Monaco specification setup works well in both dry and damp conditions. The changed steering setup for Kimi was more to his liking for FP2. Kimi Räikkönen, E20-03 Free practice 1: No time set, installation lap completed Free practice 2: P19, 1:19.267, 25 laps Kimi: “It’s good to be back in Monaco even if we missed some running today. The steering wasn’t to my liking so the team changed it for me. It’s something you change for Monaco and there’s no way of knowing what it will be like beforehand. The car felt good in the second session, though it was obviously pretty slippery when the track was wet. I would have liked to have had more time in the car, but Monaco’s a track I know pretty well and it hasn’t changed much over the years. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.” Romain Grosjean, E20-04 Free practice 1: P2, 1:16.630, 22 laps Free practice 2: P2, 1:16.138, 19 laps Romain: “I think the car is suiting the track pretty well and I love Monaco, it’s good to be here and it’s nice to see so many fans. The car was looking good this morning and this afternoon – we are working in a good direction. Unfortunately it was a bit wet this afternoon and we couldn’t do all the programme we wanted to achieve but as we have a good baseline it shouldn’t be such a big deal. Let’s see what the weather will be like tomorrow and what we can achieve. I think that we are looking good in both conditions.” James Allison, Technical Director: “We’re happy with today’s performance as we came here with a certain amount of trepidation about whether our cars would be competitive. It was a disappointment to have missed the first session whilst we changed the steering setup on Kimi’s car, but he’s an old enough trooper to get himself up to speed on Saturday. The pace shown by Romain in both sessions was certainly encouraging. All the Monaco upgrades seem to be working well and the E20 is pretty happy around what is a very unique track.”
